It is always with great trepidation that we venture out into the St. George dining scene. As I’ve mentioned before, for an up and coming retirement area, there is a woeful lack of restaurants and nightlife, not to mention only one liquor store to serve about 70,000 people. But I digress. Ryan and Jon were visiting so we decided to go to the newly opened Kokopelli Grill at Entrada Country Club.
The dining room and the views are gorgeous. And the menu is both traditional and inventive. The service is a little slow but I think they are still working out the kinks. We were served rolls which we all liked although John thought they could be crustier. They have a wine list which you ask for (this is Utah) and they need a little work on wine service as they didn’t cut the foil. The waitering was a bit aggressive. Plates were cleared while you were still chewing. But this is minor stuff.
We ordered three spinach salads and a pear and goat cheese salad. All the salads were excellent. The spinach was fresh, there were slivers of tart apples and lightly sugared walnuts and a mellow dressing. The pear and goat salad had a nice raspberry vinaigrette and a crunchy crostini.
Ryan and Jon had elk which they thought was good although it could have been seasoned a little more. The side of vegetables were good and the corn fritters (really hushpuppies) were great.
John had venison chops which he felt were spectacular and seasoned well. They were served with fingerling potatoes and lovely small green beans. There was a tomato coulis for sauce.
I had NY steak. I’m still afraid to wander too far from Utah eating rules. (See note below) The steak was cooked just right and was very tasty. It was served with cheddar mashed potatoes and mixed root vegetables. There was an ancho chili sauce. My only criticism is that except for the steak everything was lukewarm.
For dessert we shared a yummy crème brulee. We wished that there had been a little more burnt sugar on top.
This was a fine dining experience. We’ll definitely go here again.
Jon – B+
Ryan – B+
John – A-
Mary – B+
NOTE: Utah eating rules were established by our family after too many awful meals. The idea is to improve your chances of a good meal by eliminating as many preparation steps as possible – fewer opportunities to screw up. The most basic meal would be, kill cow, cook cow, eat cow, as in, have a steak.